PO Box 7820 Canberra BC ACT 2610
5 August 2022
Our reference: LEX 69036
Mr Alex Pentland (Right to Know)
Only by email
: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Mr Pentland
Acknowledgement of your Freedom of Information Request
I refer to your request to the Department of Social Services dated 21 July 2022, for access to
documents under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act). Your request was made in
the following terms:
The documents I seek access to are in reference to a trial that the current Minister
For Governments Services Bil Shorten has cancelled, as referred to here:
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jul/21/bil -shorten-intervenes-to-
remove-birthing-parent-from-medical-forms-amid-criticism-in-daily-telegraph
I seek access to the following:
(a)The Ministerial Instructions from the Minister to cease the use of the forms;
(b) Correspondence between the Minister's Office and the following Media Entities
regarding the Form:
(i) News Corporation/The Daily Telegraph,
(ii) Sunrise,
(i i) The Guardian,
(iv) SBS,
(v) ABC; and
(c) all documents presented to the Minister on the 20th of June, explaining the form
(as referred to her
e: https://twitter.com/bil shortenmp/status/1549876339502485504)”
With amendment
I would like to substitute Sunrise for Nine’s Today Show. I had intended to refer to
Today at first but slipped and confused the two similar morning shows. I hope this is
understandable and reasonable
On 2 August 2022, Services Australia (the agency) accepted partial transfer of your request
from the Department of Social Services under section 16 of the FOI Act. The agency is
processing the following parts of your request:
The documents I seek access to are in reference to a trial that the current Minister
For Governments Services Bil Shorten has cancelled, as referred to here:
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jul/21/bil -shorten-intervenes-to-
remove-birthing-parent-from-medical-forms-amid-criticism-in-daily-telegraph
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I seek access to the following:
(a) The Ministerial Instructions from the Minister to cease the use of the forms; and
(c) all documents presented to the Minister on the 20th of June, explaining the form
(as referred to her
e: https://twitter.com/bil shortenmp/status/1549876339502485504)
Timeframe for processing your request
Your request was received by the Department of Social Services on 21 July 2022 and the
30 day statutory period for processing your request commenced from the day after that date.
A decision is therefore due by 20 August 2022. However, as this is a Saturday a decision is
currently due to be notified to you by 22 August 2022. The period of 30 days may be
extended if we need to consult third parties or for other reasons. We wil advise you if this
happens.
Unfortunately, due to the delay in transferring your request from the Department of Social
Services, the agency may not be in a position to provide you with a decision by the current
due date of 22 August 2022. Therefore, I respectfully request an extension of 15 days under
section 15AA of the FOI Act.
The effect of this extension of time would mean a decision would be due to be notified to you
by 4 September 2022. However, as this is a Sunday we would notify you of the decision on
5 September 2022.
We would be grateful if you could respond via email by Tuesday, 9 August 2022 to advise
whether you agree to an extension of time.
Charges
The agency wil advise you if a charge is payable to process your request and the amount of
any such charge as soon as practicable. No charge is payable for providing a person with
their own personal information.
Your address
The FOI Act requires that you provide us with an address which we can send notices to. You
have advised your electronic address is
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx.
We wil send all notices and correspondence to this address. Please advise us as soon as
possible if you wish correspondence to be sent to another address or if your address
changes. If you do not advise us of changes to your address, correspondence and notices
wil continue to be sent to the address specified above.
Disclosure log
Please note that information released under the FOI Act may be published in a disclosure log
on the agency's website. Section 11C of the FOI Act requires this publication, however it is
subject to certain exceptions, including where publication of personal, business, professional
or commercial information would be unreasonable.
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Exclusion of junior staff details
The agency is working towards ensuring that all staff have a choice about whether they
provide their full name, personal logon identifiers and direct contact details in response to
public enquiries. Where such details are included in the scope of a request, this may add to
processing time and applicable charges as it may be necessary to consider whether the
details are exempt under the FOI Act. On this basis, unless you tell us otherwise, we wil
assume that these details are out of scope of your request and they wil be redacted under
section 22 of the FOI Act.
Further assistance
If you have any questions please ema
il xxx.xxxxx.xxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx.
Yours sincerely
Colette
FOI Registration Officer
Freedom of Information Team
Information Access Branch | Legal Services Division
Services Australia
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